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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Back to Basics ~ How to Blanch Almonds & Hommade Almond Flour



Preparing almond flour at home is easy and obviously budget friendly. Almond flour is low carb, gluten free, cholesterol free and a good source of protein and vitamin E. I have read that it lends a moist texture and rich, buttery flavor to low carb cakes and wanted to test it. And as a first step, I prepared almond flour today at home. I blanched the almonds, air dried them and then ground them fine in my food processor. If you don't wish to throw away the skins, directly grind the almonds without blanching.

Blanching almonds:
Wash and place shelled, raw almonds in a bowl. Add enough water so that almonds are immersed in it. Nuke it in the microwave for 2 - 3 minutes and remove. Throw away the water used and rinse the almonds.


To remove the skins, hold an almond between your thumb and index finger. Gently press it to peel off the skin, which slides away easily. Repeat it with the other almonds.



Slicing almonds:
If you need some almond slices, allow the blanched almonds to air dry. And then slice them using a knife. Toast them in an oven or in a skillet on stove top and store them.


Making almond flour:
To make almond flour, pulse a few times about a cup of dried, blanched almonds in a food processor until it is ground into flour. Take care not to over do it and turn it into a paste. It would be fine if you are doing almond butter instead of flour. Once the nuts are ground, pass it through a sieve / sifter. The larger pieces that didn’t make it through can be ground again. Keep the flour refrigerated or frozen since it will go rancid quickly. A coffee grinder can also be used to do the job.

This is going to be my Day 3 post under "Preps & Preserves" during BM#11. Check here to know what my fellow marathoners are cooking today.

Comments

10 comments:

veena said...

Suma I always wondered about is almond flour. Never knew it was this easy to do at home. Thanks a bunch...very useful

The Pumpkin Farm said...

I do it similarly, but due to the humidity in mumbai, i have to many times use microwave to dry the almonds before pulsing it mixie. I will try drying it out longer and preparing it in advance

Kalyani said...

nice post and useful too ! I sometimes use almond flour in kheers and payasams with a pinch of ground elaichi - it gives a very unique texture !

Gayathri Kumar said...

Very informative...

Unknown said...

Looks perfect and tempting, I luv this series

Priya Suresh said...

Wat a useful post, i do the same way too, its quite handY na..

Srivalli said...

Almond flour is so useful right..good one..

anjana said...

very nice and useful post...

Rajani said...

I usually grind the almonds (with skin on)and whiz it in the mixie and add while making the chapati dough. Nice tutorial, will try blanching and doing next time.

Chef Mireille said...

This is so useful as almond flour is quite expensive